Trans-Wa (The Transgender Health and Wellness Center of Washington) is a nonprofit that serves Trans, Two-Spirit, 3rd Gender, Intersex, Nonbinary, Agender, Gender Fluid, and all gender-expansive people across Washington State. 

**Note! Below, we use “TGE” to succinctly refer to trans and all gender-expansive people.**

Mission Statement:

We are a trans-led organization that advances health equity and justice for gender-expansive people across Washington State by eliminating barriers to self-determination, building gender-expansive community and capacity, and driving institutional and systemic change.

Aspiration Statement:

We seek a future of mutual liberation where the infinite spectrum of gender is universally celebrated, especially for gender-expansive and historically marginalized individuals.

—

Organizational Culture & Structure: 

We are a worker self-directed nonprofit, where staff have a high level of influence, including representation on our Board of Directors. Practicum-based staff (you!) are treated like staff and engaged in decision-making, strategy, governance, and organizational development, as interested.

We approach our work through the lenses of equity, inclusion, access/ibility, and justice, and are working to cultivate explicitly anti-cissexist, anti-colonialist, antiracist, anti-ableist, and systemically anti-oppressive programs, policies, and practices. This includes a commitment to anti-hierarchy, shared power, and collaborative supervision.

We are entering our 3rd year of operations and are actively developing our policies, programs, and change strategy, as well as developing our board. Practicum students have a high level of influence at the foundational level of our organizational development.

—

Practicum Structure

Trans-Wa has over 30 focus areas available for practicum students to engage in. Because of the breadth of opportunities, it is very common for our students to work across multiple areas. To help students balance developing skills in both depth and breadth, we suggest the following structure:

• 50% of your hours will generally go to your “primary focus area,” which is aligned with the position you’re applying for
• About 10% of your hours goes toward administrative tasks and self-care (we reserve 30-60 minutes per week in our schedules for self-directed self-care)
• The remainder of your hours are “self-designed,” meaning we will help you select programs and projects that align with your interests, desired skills, and career goals

A note about specializations: We offer opportunities across the three areas of social work practice (micro, mezzo, and macro). Students may opt to narrow their focus, but because of the breadth of opportunities at Trans-Wa, it’s easy to get experience working across all levels of practice.

—

Schedules

Tuesdays are our most full days as far as meetings, followed by Mondays. Generally, practicum students have pretty full Tuesdays, but it depends on the programs/projects you’re engaged with. Beyond required meetings, students are welcome to design their own schedules.

Opportunity to voice and incorporate own lived experience, expertise, and interests into work to influence organizational programs, policies, and environment.

All students engage in the following activities:
--- Individual supervision is bi-weekly; group supervision is available weekly for any students engaged in clinical work
--- Actively engage in the creation of a culture of humility, respect, anti-coercion, and prioritizing/validating lived experience as expertise

Additional activity **OPTIONS** include:
Facilitate Community Spaces
Co-facilitate the Trans-Wa Book Club (if TGE-identified)
Support Community Discord moderation and engagement
Build and sustain relationships with community members to create affirming and responsive programming
Provide individualized mentorship and guidance to Youth Advisory Board (YAB) members and emerging leaders
Volunteer Engagement
Recruit, train, and support volunteers for events and programs
Provide direct support and guidance to volunteers engaged in community-building efforts
Mutual & Direct Aid Support
Coordinate the distribution of gift cards, resources, and financial assistance programs to support community members
Connect individuals with internal and external mutual aid networks to strengthen access to needed resources
Support individuals with crafting mutual aid and direct aid requests

Working with a newer nonprofit, students will have significant influence over organizational direction, programs, and partnerships.

All staff engage in the following:
--- Attend weekly staff meetings and co-working times

Additional activity **OPTIONS** include:
Lead or co-lead community engagement programs:
Develop and sustain collaborative, community-based programs that build resilience and support within trans and gender-expansive communities
Maintain a trauma-informed, intersectional approach in program design to ensure accessibility and responsiveness to community needs
Strengthen peer-led initiatives, such as the Book Club and Community Discord, by fostering an inclusive and participatory environment
Coordinate volunteer and community-led programming to promote sustainable engagement, leadership development, and structured spaces for dialogue
Develop strategic engagement models that encourage long-term participation, leadership, and collaboration within community spaces
Event Coordination (Core Team Member):
Organize and implement Trans Day of Celebration (TDOC) and the annual Gift Card Drive
Support our Open Closet (Gender-Free Clothing and Basic Needs Exchange) program
Plan and execute new community events, such as a potential Resource/Care Fair
Strengthen fundraising efforts by coordinating event-based fundraisers, securing sponsorships, and cultivating in-kind donations to sustain and enhance programs while building relationships with donors, sponsors, and partners
Support Youth Advisory Board (YAB):
Assist in YAB development and youth-led initiatives to empower trans and gender-expansive youth
Ensure youth voices are incorporated into programming and advocacy efforts
Partnerships & Collaborations:
Develop and maintain partnerships with organizations aligned with Trans-Wa’s mission
Coordinate mutual support efforts, including co-hosting events, resource sharing, and collaborative programming

All staff engage in the following:
--- Support organizational strategic planning within your areas of work
--- Support the development and implementation of organizational and program policies within your areas of work

Additional activity **OPTIONS** include:

Policy & Systems Change Through Community Partnerships:
--- Advocate for expanded access to resources and services for trans and gender-expansive people
--- Identify systemic barriers to engagement and work collaboratively to dismantle them

Strategic Mutual Aid Development:
--- Support sustainable models of mutual aid, prioritizing community-led decision-making
--- Strengthen resource-sharing systems through strategic organizational partnerships

Community Engagement Strategy & Evaluation:
--- Contribute to the long-term vision of Trans-Wa’s community engagement efforts
--- Gather participant feedback and use data to inform program improvements and future initiatives

We do offer stipends. Washington State work study is also available. We are working on setting up federal work study, but have not heard back from that program yet.

We also offer many paid training opportunities throughout the year. Examples of trainings from the 2024-25 academic year include: organizational trauma, data equity foundations, democratic governance, decolonizing research, neurodiversity and gender, and several gender-affirming-care-related topics. Students are also welcome to bring training ideas to the group for consideration!

Required:

-- Previous experience working with marginalized communities and/or individuals, especially LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and Disabled/neurodiverse communities (YES, lived experience is experience!!)
-- Passionate about gender diversity and trans justice, as well as intersecting identities, lived experiences, and issues
-- Deep and demonstrated commitment to gender-expansive people and communities, including people who are Trans, Two-Spirit, 3rd Gender, Intersex, Nonbinary, Agender, Gender Fluid, GNC, demi, gender-expansive, and/or not exclusively cisgender
-- Strong commitment and willingness to deepen learning about our shared values of anti-oppression (including antiracism and anti-ableism), accessibility, centering lived experience, self-determination, and mutual liberation
-- Ability to “speak to” (in a verbal or non-verbal sense) these commitments
-- Ability to identify own positionality (both privilege and marginalization) and engage with people across significant difference from a place of humility, respect, partnership, and empathy
-- Comfortable interacting with diverse groups of people via email, social media, Zoom, phone, and possibly in person
-- Commitment and follow-through to execute tasks—including potentially routine or mundane tasks—that are crucial for the implementation of projects and programs
-- Ability to self-organize and self-initiate, and/or willingness to work collaboratively with teammates to organize and plan tasks and workflow

—---

Preferred:

-- Previous experience working with Trans and Gender-Expansive individuals and TGE-related issues such as trans rights, gender justice, and/or gender-affirming care. (Again, lived experience is experience!!)

—---

Technological proficiencies:

Previous experience with these is *NOT required* but a general knowledge of these or related technologies would be helpful!
-- Google Workspace, including G-Drive and Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, etc.
-- Zoom
-- Discord
-- Canva
– Any experience working with health records, project management software, and/or relationship management software

These platforms are new to almost all incoming staff, so we include full trainings for practicum students using these:
-- Monday.com (our project management software)
-- Nation Builder (our donor management, digital organizing, and communications software)
-- Sessions Health (our EHR)

English
Other language proficiencies are deeply appreciated but not required

Thinking about applying?
We would love to see you at one of our upcoming Trans-Wa Open Houses!
Please sign up here: https://wkf.ms/4bslFdv

Ready to Apply?
To apply, please complete and submit this form: https://wkf.ms/4cO6ACw

Questions or Issues?
If you have any issues with the application process or have any questions, please feel free to reach out by email to Serin, our Executive Director, at admin@transwa.org.